Hypnosis to Stop Smoking

There now exists a wealth of research and scientific evidence to support how damaging smoking is to our health. Despite this, and for a good many people, smoking can be an incredibly hard habit to break. People first begin smoking perhaps out of curiosity, to be more like their peers, or for no other reason than they can. No matter what the reasons may be, before long, a true addiction is formed.

However, there is hope for those who really want to quit. Hypnosis is just one of many methods you can try to help you to stop smoking, but before we look at how hypnosis can help you to quit, let’s first take a look at some more information about just how bad for you smoking really is.

The health effects of Smoking are the circumstances, mechanisms, and factors of tobacco consumption on human health. Epidemiological research has been focused primarily on cigarette tobacco smoking, which has been studied more extensively than any other form of consumption.

Tobacco is the single greatest cause of preventable death globally. Tobacco use leads most commonly to diseases affecting the heart, liver and lungs, with smoking being a major risk factor for heart attacks, strokes, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) (including emphysema and chronic bronchitis), and cancer (particularly lung cancer, cancers of the larynx and mouth, and pancreatic cancer). It also causes peripheral vascular disease and hypertension. The effects depend on the number of years that a person smokes and on how much the person smokes. Starting smoking earlier in life and smoking cigarettes higher in tar increases the risk of these diseases. Also, environmental tobacco smoke, or secondhand smoke, has been shown to cause adverse health effects in people of all ages. Cigarettes sold in underdeveloped countries tend to have higher tar content, and are less likely to be filtered, potentially increasing vulnerability to tobacco-related disease in these regions.

The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that tobacco caused 5.4 million deaths in 2004 and 100 million deaths over the course of the 20th century. Similarly, the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention describes tobacco use as “the single most important preventable risk to human health in developed countries and an important cause of premature death worldwide.” Several countries have taken measures to control the consumption of tobacco with usage and sales restrictions as well as warning messages printed on packaging.

Smoke contains several carcinogenic pyrolytic products that bind to DNA and cause many genetic mutations. There are 45 known or suspected chemical carcinogens in cigarette smoke. Tobacco also contains nicotine, which is a highly addictive psychoactive drug. When tobacco is smoked, nicotine causes physical and psychological dependency. Tobacco use is a significant factor in miscarriages among pregnant smokers, and it contributes to a number of other threats to the health of the fetus such as premature births and low birth weight and increases by 1.4 to 3 times the chance for Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS). The result of scientific studies done in neonatal rats seems to indicate that exposure to cigarette smoke in the womb may reduce the fetal brain’s ability to recognize hypoxic conditions, thus increasing the chance of accidental asphyxiation. Incidence of impotence is approximately 85 percent higher in male smokers compared to non-smokers, and is a key factor causing erectile dysfunction (ED).

A person’s increased risk of contracting disease is directly proportional to the length of time that a person continues to smoke as well as the amount smoked. However, if someone stops smoking, then these chances gradually decrease as the damage to their body is repaired. A year after quitting, the risk of contracting heart disease is half that of a continuing smoker. The health risks of smoking are not uniform across all smokers. Risks vary according to amount of tobacco smoked, with those who smoke more at greater risk. Light cigarette smoking still poses a significant (though reduced) health risk, as does pipe and cigar smoking. Smoking so-called “light” cigarettes does not reduce the risk.

Tobacco use most commonly leads to diseases affecting the heart and lungs and will most commonly affect areas such as hands or feet with first signs of smoking related health issues showing up as numbness, with smoking being a major risk factor for heart attacks, Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD), emphysema, and cancer, particularly lung cancer, cancers of the larynx and mouth, and pancreatic cancer. Overall life expectancy is also reduced in long term smokers, with estimates ranging from 10 years fewer than nonsmokers. About one half of long term male smokers will die of illness due to smoking. The association of smoking with lung cancer is strongest, both in the public perception and etiologically. Among male smokers, the lifetime risk of developing lung cancer is 17.2%; among female smokers, the risk is 11.6%. This risk is significantly lower in nonsmokers: 1.3% in men and 1.4% in women. If one looks at men who continue to smoke tobacco, the risk increases to one in six. Historically, lung cancer was considered to be a rare disease prior to World War I and was perceived as something most physicians would never see during their career. With the postwar rise in popularity of cigarette smoking came a virtual epidemic of lung cancer.

Okay. So now we know how bad smoking is for our health, it’s time to quit. Only, quitting can be difficult. Right?

Wrong! Quitting can be easy, and here’s why.

Smoking is a habit and habits are controlled by the subconscious. Hypnotherapy works by guiding you to a deep and relaxed state of consciousness, where your subconscious mind is more receptive to suggestion. During this relaxed condition, a hypnotherapist will look to replace patterns of thought as they relate to the smoking habit, by making suggestions like, for instance, ‘I do not want a cigarette’ or ‘I am repelled by cigarette smoke’. For many, one single session of hypnosis is enough to stop them from smoking, although some may benefit from a further session. When done properly, hypnosis will not only help you to quit, but will make it easy for you to stay that way. It can also help you to make sure you don’t begin to gain weight by eating more, which some people say can be a problem after quitting smoking.

So now you understand how quitting this dangerous habit can be easy. Most importantly though, before you decide to book your hypnotherapy session, or decide to listen to a hypnosis cd or hypnosis mp3, the first step is to make 100% certain that you are quitting for the right reason. Not because you think you ‘should’, or because a member of your family, partner, or friend, is pressuring you. It has to be for you, and you alone, otherwise you may not get the results you expect.